Aussie Gold Hunters S09E09 (2024)
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00:00Last season I helped Shane get a really good deal on his Galah Leagues. He had this million
00:20dollar deal and he made a lot of money out of it and he's living a great life now. You
00:24know it was a great experience and he's been a part of my life for a long time. He was
00:28an old mate of my dad's and I'd love to be able to find some gold and basically do what
00:34he did. I've roped in my best friend to come out but we need some ground to go on and so
00:40that's why I need Shane because he's got access to some really good ground. It's his dad's
00:4590th birthday and so they're having a really nice meal down on the point. I've got a big
00:51question to ask him. Well dad, it's 90. So how long have we been prospecting now? Actually
00:58I've been prospecting from the very beginning. From the very beginning? I was born in the dirt.
01:02Hello, hello. Kate! How are you going Shane? What brings you here Kate? Well I heard that
01:13it was a special someone's 90th birthday. There's me dad. How are you John? Happy birthday. Thanks
01:19What do you got there dad? I don't know. Yeah well you know the story is dad, beware of people
01:24bearing gifts. This book happens to be about Yalgoo which is very close to Messenger's Patch.
01:31What's going on here Kate? Well Shane, I've got a bit of a proposition for you. Oh no. I've got it
01:37mate. She wants to come out with me. We want to get started doing some prospecting but I really
01:42want to go to Messenger's Patch. You've got all the plan and equipment. You know how to set it all
01:46up. I've got the knowledge and I can tell you where to look for gold but I need your skills so
01:50that we can actually put the two together and get some real gold. Well you put us on the Messenger's
01:55Patch a couple of seasons ago and we were very successful there. But why do I want to swallow
02:00more diesel, have more disappointments, eat more dust and continue that lifestyle again? Because
02:07the gold is in your blood. Come on give us a go. What do you reckon dad? You reckon I should have
02:13another dip? Oh definitely. Always go for the gold. Got a deal?
02:34Well I'm back here again. I was here with me old mate Rusty last season. How I ended up here was
02:40through Kate. Kate had some very good information about this area here. It's called Messenger's
02:45Patch. We found some very good gold here and I think Kate feels like she missed out on it all
02:50and she wants part of this action. So she wants part of this action. She's gonna earn it. Don't
02:55worry about that. I can't believe we're finally out here Kate. This is awesome. It's taken us years
03:03to get out here. I know it's gonna be so good. This reminds me of the old days. I know we were
03:08young geologists out on the rig together. Had a few kids in between. Yeah we both have. Kate and
03:15Amy have been best friends for more than a decade. Since moving to Australia from England 17 years
03:22ago, Amy has led teams of senior geologists in developing some of the biggest iron ore mines
03:28in the world. Now she's hoping that experience along with Kate's and Shane's knowledge of gold
03:34will put them on the gold. How do you think Shane's gonna take having two strong ladies
03:41telling him what to do? Well he coped pretty well last year having me telling him what to do. You
03:47know it's just double the fun really. Now here they are. There's the man of the hour. How we going
03:55there Kate? There he is. How are you Shane? And this is the famous iron ore geologist. Is that right?
04:00Who wants to learn how to find gold? I want to show you my luxurious camp before we get on with
04:05what we're doing now. It looks good Shane. There's our open fire. There's the oven. There's the esky.
04:11And in there's the bathroom. Just go and have a look at the facility. Look at this Shane. Five stars. This is why you get a plumber to do the job.
04:19Oh wow. It's looking good Shane. I hope you like it. We'll be able to wash our hair. I don't want to be
04:28out anywhere where I haven't got a toilet or a shower or any facilities. Well you're a man of
04:32means now so you know. I'm a man of means. Let's go and have a look at the machinery in case we get on with
04:38finding the gold okay? You'll want to listen to this purr when I start it up. This ain't happening.
04:53Shane? Kate I'll get it going. You go do what you got to do. I will get it running. Let me know how
05:04you go. Right I've got to get it fired up. They've gone to a lot of trouble. I must get it going. Come
05:10on darling. Don't let me down. Every three weeks I've been coming here to the Marabara Hospital
05:32for treatment for my cancer and hi girls how are you? I see my oncologist go in have treatment and
05:40then I head back out bush looking for gold. Neville as we have talked about the disease is a dynamic
05:48process. Yeah. It changes. I know it's sort of progressing so yeah you know and that's just how
05:54cancer is. It works its way around the current treatment and you know we look at all the
05:59alternatives as we move forward. There are different options to consider and one of them
06:04is clinical trial which sometimes can give you access to better outcome. Mate I'm up for anything
06:09because even if it doesn't work for me the information that's gathered may help someone
06:14else in the future. That's good to hear. Neville Perry's goldfield adventures have made him a bit
06:21of a celebrity at the hospital. So he bought this nugget in to show us. He just had a tight in a
06:27little hanky. Now this photo was the 8th of March. So we want you to bring in your next biggest one.
06:33I will. That's your goal. I'll bring one in. It's all terrific. Thanks girls. See ya. See ya Neville.
06:47Hey Nev these roads are pretty chopped up in places mate I can assure you. Yeah mate they don't see a lot of love so you just
06:55gotta roll with the punches. While he waits for his next course of treatment Neville takes the
07:02Poseidon crew Brent Shannon and Ethan West more than 800 kilometres from their home in Victoria
07:08to a secret location in northwestern New South Wales. We're probably about half an hour out from
07:15where we'll be setting up camp. Half an hour out of where mate? You still haven't told us where we're
07:19going I got no idea. The actual name of the place is I keep that pretty close to me chest. But the
07:26exciting thing is mate the area that we've identified at the moment is about 10 kilometres
07:32wide and about 40 odd kilometres long. This area could blow your target out of the water. So you
07:40found thousands of ounces up here. Literally thousands upon thousands mate. This up here could be your future.
07:47Righto boys turning right here. We've got access here through good relationship with the station
07:56owners because you are in big pastoral station country. You can't just come out into these
08:01areas without having permission and consent. So I'm hoping that access will be continued on for Brenton and Ethan.
08:10So this is it guys. Big holes, big reward. And it's totally different to what you're used to. I'm used to green paddocks.
08:22We've got a set of rangers out the back you can see there. Millions of years ago the old riverbeds
08:28have just deposited all their glories out over the entire area. So what's the game plan there? Well Brent
08:35you and me in the buggy and Ethan on the quad. Yep. Let's go make history.
08:49This isn't just your lifetime, my lifetime, however long that may be. This area is generational.
08:57It's something your kids, my kids, it can be something that you can all enjoy together.
09:03Let's get some gold. All right. Right we're here Brent. This is it is it? This is it. Well this is one of many.
09:24I wanted to bring the boys up here because I know I'm on limited time. I know it and
09:31how much time that is I just don't know. They took some more scans before I left.
09:38Haven't heard any results on them yet but if there's anything wrong they'll contact me I'm sure.
09:52So there's a bit of weather rolling in and the wind's starting to pick up
09:56and it looks like a few dark clouds coming out of nowhere.
10:02Hey Brent this wind's starting to pick up a little bit mate. What'd you say mate sorry?
10:06This wind's starting to pick up a little bit and the clouds look like they're a bit threatening
10:10in the distance there. Yeah mate there might be a storm brewing I suppose. Hey Nev you got a copy
10:17mate? You're still in range? I've got no idea where Neville is. I've heard Brent come across
10:25the radio a few times but I haven't heard from Nev for a few hours now. Hey Nev you got a copy mate?
10:38Nev tells us sometimes the dust storms get that strong through here
10:41and literally the sky turns black. That's ridiculous. Hey Nev you got a copy mate?
10:51Is that you Nev?
10:59I can't hear you mate.
11:05Hey Ace you got a copy there mate? Head back to the buggy. You heading back?
11:08What? Head back to the buggy. I don't really want to be out in this.
11:13We don't know where Nev is. My eyes are just copping a complete
11:16flogging. Ace you know where the buggy is still? I have a rough idea mate. I'm
11:23going to push over that way now. If Nev doesn't come we've got to go looking for him.
11:30Hey Nev you got a copy mate?
11:32I've got a copy.
11:36Nev!
11:54Mate just outside these heads, Carartha coastline. I've been waiting to get on this coastline for a
12:00while. You and me both. And on your boat too. All the blues, aqua greens.
12:06Drastic change from last week mate. Oh you're not wrong. This is absolutely wonderful.
12:12There's actually been some recent big gold finds in the Carartha area. One of them,
12:17the run was eight kilometres long. Eight kilometres that's unreal.
12:24Salty's skills as a bushman mean he can survive off the land.
12:28And these waters are home to a great source of food, the mud crab.
12:34I reckon we try and get a feed of muddies, chuck the nets in, go out to the island,
12:38have a bit of a look around there and then hopefully come back on the way back and
12:43pull up the nets and we've got some dinner. Sounds like a plan. We'd be mad not to.
12:47Oh well mate, hopefully that's dinner sorted. Let's head off to the gold.
12:58It's about as beautiful as it gets. Last week, Alan and Salty pushed deep into the
13:03rocky scrubland of Carartha, putting a massive dent in their season target.
13:09Wow that's 21 grand. One of our best weeks mate.
13:12Now they're using their skills to find big gold in an unfamiliar landscape.
13:18These salt flats, the biggest problem is they're either way too sloppy and
13:22you can't walk through them or they're hard and you can't dig into them.
13:34All right. Get tied off mate. I'll get the gear ready.
13:38All right. We'll just stake it, make this a bit of an anchor.
13:42All right, easy. All right, that'll do. You happy with that?
13:47Yeah.
13:50I'm going to get up onto this flat country and just get to work. We've only got an hour top,
13:56so I can already see the water draining out here. We need to be careful we don't get stuck here
14:01because otherwise it's, you know, it's like eight hours until the high tide again.
14:08All right, let's get into it.
14:13The tidal plains massive five meter swing between high and low tide provides a perfect
14:19hunting ground for carnivores like osprey, wild dogs and the highly aggressive saltwater crocodile.
14:29Oh mate, that was brutal. That's bitey.
14:31Unfortunately, this is not what we expected. Al and I thought it was just
14:37nice big flat salt plains, but what we were actually seeing was this spinifex country,
14:42which is horrendous to walk through. We didn't bring shoes because of the mud and we thought
14:46we'd be in mud. We've got an hour to try and scour this area quickly, see if it's worthy.
14:51Then we've got to get back to the boat before that tide disappears and our boat's high and dry.
14:56To get to here, I had to walk through all the spinifex and my feet are pretty sore at the moment.
15:00I mean, I'm all for coming out to these spots. I can't imagine anyone's
15:04stupid enough to come out here and actually look for gold. So there's a really good chance
15:09if there is gold here, we're going to be the ones to find it.
15:14No, I'm not liking this at all.
15:18I'm laughing through this because I'm a bit frustrated.
15:21Absolutely nothing so far. No signals.
15:30Alan!
15:33Mate, I reckon we've got to get out of here, bro. We've been too long.
15:36That's half an hour longer than I thought we would.
15:38Yeah, nah, let's go. We've got to go.
15:41Nah, not that way. If we go that way, we're going to get stuck.
15:43Yeah, we've got to get out of here, bro. We've been too long.
15:45That's half an hour longer than I thought we would.
15:47Yeah, nah, let's go. We've got to go.
15:48Nah, not that way. If we go that way, we're going to get stuck.
15:50What are you thinking?
15:51Yeah, we've got to go the long way.
15:52I don't really care at this point. We need to get out of here.
16:06Oh mate, we've missed the turn off.
16:07I was going to say, this isn't right.
16:09Well, I think we're both on the other side.
16:10Yeah, well, we're just going to punch through the mangroves then.
16:12Oh mate, I can't believe we've missed that turn off.
16:14I know.
16:15Oh no, this is not looking good.
16:21Alan, can you see the boat?
16:23Oh no, no, no, no.
16:25What?
16:25Mate, the boat's gone. It's not there.
16:27What?
16:28I'm not lying. It's not there. Look.
16:31We pegged it in.
16:32I know, I know.
16:34This is serious. We're in big trouble.
16:37Oh.
16:43Nev, you got a copy, mate?
16:47The visibility's getting worse.
16:50Go over there, mate.
16:51Is that you, Nev?
16:53I can hear the bike, mate. I can't see. I can hear the bike.
16:56Yeah, beautiful. Am I coming towards you or not?
16:59Yeah, you just start coming now. I can just see the shadow.
17:05Keep heading your way.
17:07All right?
17:08Yeah, I can see the shadow.
17:10I think I can see you, Nev.
17:11Yeah, there you are, mate.
17:12Hey!
17:12There you are.
17:13I gotcha.
17:14There you are.
17:15Jesus Christ.
17:19Go on the other side, Nev. Go on the other side, mate.
17:24I was bunkered down in the creek over there.
17:26Well, I couldn't hear you in the radio at all.
17:28It's always best to stay bunkered down and stay where you are in case someone's looking for you.
17:35But I think we... I think we'd better get back to camp, eh?
17:38Yep.
17:49This remote corner of New South Wales is part of the Great Australian Desert.
17:54It's flat, dry, and windstorms of over 100 kilometres an hour can appear from nowhere.
18:04New day today. There's still a little bit of wind around, but she was pretty average yesterday.
18:18It's not the worst I've seen it out here, but it was sort of getting somewhere pretty close.
18:24We're back out now here today, and it's blue skies, a little bit of wind around, but
18:28it's like nothing ever happened.
18:30Been here for about three, four hours now. This is the first target we've come across.
18:37This is definitely a nice solid target. Still in the hole.
18:41Just starting to hit the bedrock.
18:47Still white.
18:54This is my first bit of northern New South Wales gold.
18:58Of northern New South Wales gold at Nev's secret spot.
19:01Hey, Nev, you got a copy, buddy?
19:03Yeah, mate.
19:04Hey, I just got my first bit, mate.
19:06Yeah, well, good on ya.
19:07Probably around about, I don't know, maybe 10, call it 10 grams, maybe 12.
19:12It's a really solid bit, Nev.
19:13Yeah, well, keep plugging away, mate. You'll get some metal.
19:16I couldn't see the smile on his face, but I could hear it.
19:21I've walked a long way along this creek, and the reason why I've chosen the creek
19:24is because we've got all these silt areas that are all washing in here,
19:27and this is basically where I'm chasing the gravel to.
19:31I've got a target right now.
19:35Well, it's still there. It's just dry ground. This creek hasn't had water in it in a while.
19:41Look how dry that is. There. Look at that.
19:45That's a good bit of gold. Probably about a five, six, maybe seven grammer.
19:51A bit of a signal here.
19:55A nice bit of gold. About a four or five grammer.
20:01Another 500 bucks in the kit. What about that?
20:05Hello? Yeah. Oh, how you going, Denise?
20:11Yeah, no, Nev's with us, yeah.
20:15Right. Everything okay? Yeah, I can get him for you.
20:19Hey, Nev, Denise is on the sat phone. She needs to talk to you, mate.
20:25Yeah, all right, mate. I'll head up. Hello? Yeah. Yeah, okay.
20:32All right. Nev's wife, Denise, just rang on the sat phone.
20:35She sounds a bit upset, to be honest.
20:37What do they mean now? Can't it wait a little bit longer?
20:43I don't know. We only just got going here.
20:46All right, okay. Just don't like leaving the boys up here all by themselves, you know?
20:53No worries. Love you. Everything all right, mate?
20:56Bad news, mate. The oncology department's rang Denise.
21:00Yeah. I did scans before I come up.
21:02Yep. Just so they could see what the
21:04treatment was doing. And they've booked me in for a biopsy already.
21:09When's that got to happen? Three days, you know?
21:13So pretty much, for me to be back in time, I've got to...
21:17You've got to take off. We'll pack up.
21:19We'll pack up. No, no, no.
21:20You don't have to pack up. No, no, no.
21:22We come together, we go together. Mate, no, no, no.
21:24We've just started to get a good sniff, and I want you to continue it.
21:29I understand that, but I don't want you driving back by yourself.
21:32I'll be fine. If you're leaving because I'm leaving, then I'm staying.
21:36Oh, mate. You know, like I brought you up here to get
21:38gold and find gold. Do that for me.
21:42All right. All right.
21:44We'll do it. Right.
21:45Please keep us updated there. I certainly will.
21:49All right, mate. Yeah.
21:50Thanks, bud. Sorry, guys.
21:53You don't have to say sorry to us. Righto.
21:55See you, mate.
22:00We have to find our own way now, mate.
22:11Our plan is now, Kate's going to grab some maps.
22:13I brought my drone because we can cover quite a lot of ground quickly
22:16to see if we can identify the first place to get out there.
22:18Yeah, try and find some gold. All right.
22:21I've got a map here of the magnetic intensity.
22:24So this shows us this huge structure running through the middle here.
22:27Kate and Amy have access to sophisticated
22:30aeromagnetic survey maps used to locate iron ore and gold.
22:35And there's a known deposit in here of different metals, including gold.
22:40All right, let's get the drone up.
22:48See the change there? Yeah, absolutely.
22:50The vegetation's a bit different there as well.
22:52Yeah.
22:56All right, so I think that spot definitely is a good one.
22:59That spot right there, which is on here.
23:01We know where that is. Yeah, perfect.
23:02That's that boundary.
23:03All right, let's bring it in and we'll go and take a look.
23:05Yeah, nice.
23:06With the dig site identified,
23:08it's now up to Shane to get his antique tractor started.
23:13To me, it's a fuel problem.
23:15The battery's good. It's turning. It's got to be fuel.
23:18But I'm not a great mechanic, so all I can do is try to prime it
23:22with a bit of priming fuel and see what happens.
23:27Get it here.
23:29Not too much.
23:42Yeah!
23:46We're going.
23:48We're going!
23:50Okay, awesome.
23:51Okay, ladies, I've got it purring like a baby.
23:55What's happening now?
23:56We found an area that we think looks pretty good,
23:58so we're going to head there now.
23:59Let's get on the gold.
24:12How are you feeling, Amy?
24:13Yeah, I'm really excited, Kate.
24:15I know, we're finally here.
24:17We're on the tenement boundary,
24:18which is exactly where we wanted to be.
24:20Look at this area.
24:21It's an active alluvial channel,
24:23so we've got movement as soon as it rains.
24:26The water comes, it exposes new ground.
24:28It concentrates gold in certain areas.
24:30I need you to teach me how to use these detectors.
24:32I'd like to go and do it.
24:34Okay.
24:44I'm just sort of scraping off a bit of a square
24:46so that Shane and Amy can come through and detect that.
24:51And sort of swirl it like you're dancing, you know?
24:54Nicely, and away you go.
24:58Shane says to make it dance,
25:00so I guess I'm trying to make it dance.
25:02And yeah, once I've got my technique down,
25:04then I'll head on over and I'll start detecting
25:06where Kate's scraping,
25:07and then hopefully once she uncovers a bit of that top dirt,
25:10we'll be able to find some gold underneath.
25:16Most metal detectors have an effective range
25:18of around 30 centimetres.
25:20To ensure they don't miss any gold,
25:23Kate strips the ground 15 centimetres at a time,
25:27working the pad layer by layer.
25:30Amy and I are really hoping that we can make a bit of a goal of this,
25:33that if we make good money out of it,
25:35that we might be able to do a bit more full-time,
25:38possibly even peg our own ground to go and work on.
25:43Ooh, that sounds good.
25:46Hey, Shane!
25:47Well, you found something, that's for sure.
25:49Yeah.
25:49Let's have a look.
25:54Ooh, Amy, that's a good way to start.
25:56You know what that is?
25:58It's a bit of alfoil.
25:59Oh, no!
25:59From a rotten barbecue.
26:01But at least the detector works.
26:04Yeah, true, but that's a heartbreaking start.
26:10Amy and Shane haven't managed to find anything yet
26:12except junk left by other people,
26:14so if we can get that junk off,
26:17get that surface off,
26:18then we can hopefully, you know,
26:20the pits that we're getting a bit further down
26:22might actually be a legitimate gold.
26:26I can't get any deeper with that tractor,
26:28so if we want to go further down,
26:30which I think we should,
26:31we're going to need another option.
26:37We pegged it in.
26:38I know, I know.
26:39Boys, the boat's gone.
26:40Quick, the boat's gone.
26:41Oh, no, no.
26:43Oh, look, there it is.
26:44I can see it, I can see it.
26:46It's just come off the mooring.
26:47We've got to get to it, mate,
26:48because if that tide moves any more...
26:50I know, then we're stuck here for good.
26:52I'm just going to drop my stuff and swim across.
26:54Yep.
26:55The rope's just slid straight off here.
26:56Yeah, we had that in deep too.
26:58Oh, it's bent.
27:00Oh my God, it's snapped it.
27:02All right, well, let's not use that again.
27:04All right, I'm going to swim across
27:05and then I'm just going to run along that bank
27:07because, look, there has been crocs in these waters.
27:11Do you need me to come with you?
27:12No, no, no, you wait here, mate.
27:13Sure.
27:13You wait here, yeah.
27:14Sing out, I'll get over there quick.
27:19It's pretty deep here.
27:25This tide has gone out quicker than we thought.
27:27It broke the mooring and, yeah, it's almost at the boat now.
27:31Hopefully, it's not too stuck.
27:37I've got everything crossed at the moment,
27:38then nothing's damaged on that boat.
27:42Oh, no, no, he's got it.
27:43He's moving.
27:43He's moving.
27:44Yes!
27:49Wicked.
27:49All right, let's load up.
27:53It's really shallow.
27:56Jump in, mate.
27:58Yeah.
28:00Mate, it's not over yet.
28:02You're not wrong.
28:02Look how much that water's dropped already.
28:04We need to get out of here.
28:06Jeez, that's 0.3 of a metre.
28:07This is going to be the whole way back.
28:09Yeah.
28:09Just yell out if you hear anything.
28:10Yeah, I'll do my best.
28:13There's many risks here.
28:14One is getting stuck completely and bottoming out on the boat,
28:17not being able to get the boat to the next bit of water.
28:20Another risk is hitting the prop on submerged bit of wood,
28:23tree, mangrove roots,
28:25busting the prop,
28:26and not being able to actually motor ourselves back.
28:28Look at that stuff sticking out of the water.
28:30Yeah, you can see all the trees here.
28:31That's a bit of a worry.
28:32That was meant to be the deep side.
28:33This side looks all right.
28:34Yeah, it's fine.
28:35Keep that line.
28:41Mate, it's a point.
28:440.4.
28:480.3.
28:52Everyone think light thoughts.
28:55We're over.
29:02We're over?
29:02We're over.
29:10After a rough day on the Karatha Salt Flats,
29:13Alan and Salty are hoping for better luck with their crab net.
29:17Really hoping for one mud crab.
29:20Looking interesting.
29:21No, nothing there.
29:22Nothing?
29:23Not a thing.
29:26It hasn't even been eating.
29:27No.
29:29Nothing.
29:30That's disappointing.
29:33Let's just go back to the bloody camp.
29:36Today's not our day.
29:37I've had enough.
29:45Not our day, mate.
29:46Terrible day.
29:48Something's got to change.
29:49Well, I've got one more spot that I'll get your second opinion on.
29:55Look in there to that little ridgeline there.
29:58Millions of years ago, this area was overshadowed by a mountain range.
30:03Over time, the mountains were reduced to a small ridge.
30:06If they can trek closer to the ridgeline,
30:09they hope to find a pocket of gold left behind by millions of years of erosion.
30:15It looks a lot better.
30:16It looks a lot deeper.
30:17Yeah, that actually looks promising.
30:19All right.
30:20What doesn't look promising is these noodles.
30:24It'd be a whole lot better with some mud crab, mate.
30:37It's nice to see the old girl back.
30:39Yeah, she's going well.
30:40Now that we've got the backhoe here, we'll go down a bit, sink it a bit.
30:44Okay, let's get on with it.
30:46With his eight-ton backhoe, Shane can dig down to the next level,
30:50which his 1964 tractor couldn't reach.
30:54I'm going to go ahead out and grab a detector and see what I can find.
31:02That's sounding like it.
31:03That's a really loud noise.
31:04I'm not sure that that's anything.
31:06But you can't leave noise in the ground, so...
31:09I mean, this is quite sort of loose material,
31:11so you'd almost expect it to be rubbish.
31:14It's still in there.
31:16It's a pretty loud signal.
31:18And gold is usually sort of a...
31:20quite a nice signal.
31:27Oh, you know what?
31:30Oh my goodness, that's gold!
31:32That's a beautiful piece of gold.
31:34Wow.
31:36That's just amazing.
31:37I'm so pleased with that.
31:40Sounding pretty good.
31:45Oh my goodness, please let it be bigger than a pin.
31:49Oh yeah, it is.
31:51Oh wow, that looks like gold.
31:53Oh, no way.
31:54There you go, gold.
31:55Oh, Kate's going to be so happy.
31:59Well, I hope it's a bit of gold, not a bit of metal.
32:02Oh, there it is there.
32:04Oh, it's a bit bigger.
32:05Oh, hang on.
32:06There we go.
32:07There we go.
32:08Oh, another one.
32:09Wow.
32:10Sounds like we're all having a lucky day.
32:11So I reckon we just keep finishing off the bit we've cleared,
32:15and then see what we come up with.
32:16That's fine by me.
32:18Yeah, copy that.
32:29Mate, we haven't found an ounce of gold this week,
32:31so we really need to find something today.
32:33I know.
32:34Otherwise, it's a whole week of using boat fuel, car fuel.
32:38I know, a lot of expenses and a lot of...
32:40Yeah, it just hasn't gone well.
32:42But don't worry, today's the day.
32:47See the big mountain ranges.
32:49It's all breakaway now, and it feeds right down into the salt pan.
32:54And it looks 10 times better than yesterday.
32:57Now I know what I'm looking for.
33:02There's a nice little landing there.
33:03Are you happy with that one?
33:04Yeah, yeah.
33:05Oh, how good does that look?
33:06It's good, isn't it?
33:07Yeah, I can just tie it on.
33:10Yeah, yeah, that'd be fine.
33:13We won't lose that one today.
33:24That's a fair hike.
33:27Wow, a really different looking ground.
33:33What do you reckon?
33:34I reckon this will do.
33:36This looks all like, you know, ancient kind of hills here.
33:39I wrote it away.
33:39This whole little area looks really nice.
33:41Let's get into it, mate.
33:42Yeah, let's do it.
34:00It's a very unique looking place, this one.
34:04It's got a lot of good ingredients in it.
34:05Just this little section here that I'm looking at,
34:08caught stringers all through it.
34:09It's a good sign.
34:10It's definitely a lot better than yesterday.
34:14Really, really odd.
34:17Like all this stuff here, this is...
34:18Yeah, I haven't seen anything like this before.
34:25Oh, hello, what's that?
34:28Oh, that sounds good.
34:35Oh, it's out.
34:40Got him.
34:44Whoa, that's loud.
34:48Yes, we got a bit of gold.
34:51That's a ripper.
34:53Yeah, it's travelled.
34:54It's very rounded.
34:56A wicked little bit of gold.
34:58That's awesome.
34:59Soldier, you got a copy?
35:01Yeah, mate, gotcha.
35:03Mate, I just found a nugget.
35:05Really?
35:06Yeah, a nice five grammer.
35:07Mate, that sounds way better.
35:08I'm coming over.
35:10Oh, there you go.
35:10There's one.
35:11Really?
35:11Yeah, there's one.
35:14Yeah, she's out.
35:15She's in the spoil.
35:18Got him.
35:20I can see it.
35:20Oh, Jesus.
35:22Wow.
35:25Mate, this is what we're here for.
35:27Do you want me to grid this for you?
35:28Yeah, if you can.
35:29Thank you.
35:31The grid is a simple way to ensure the same ground isn't worked twice.
35:37That's not ground noise.
35:38I'm digging them all.
35:38Yeah, what's out?
35:39Gee, shallow again.
35:40Yeah.
35:41Oh, I can see it. I can see it.
35:42Yep.
35:44Wow, mate.
35:45On the money.
35:48Oh, get out.
35:51That's it.
35:53This patch, mate, I always want to keep them going forever.
35:55Yeah.
35:55How's that pocket feeling?
35:57It's getting heavy.
35:57Yeah.
35:58Nice.
36:01Mate, I'm calling it.
36:03I'm going to mark this spot and then hightail it back to the boat.
36:06You're calling it?
36:07Yeah.
36:08Two hours to low tide.
36:11What a way to wrap this trip up.
36:13Thank you, Karatha.
36:14Thank you.
36:24Unfortunately, Nev had to take off for his health reasons.
36:27We're miles away from any real ground that we really know
36:30and really got any experience on.
36:33It's one thing I've had to learn is to swing a bit faster, you know.
36:36Nev says, pick the speed up.
36:37Cover some ground.
36:38Down in Victoria, we used to go a bit slower.
36:41Here, you've got to go a bit quicker.
36:43Oh, it's definitely a target clear as day.
36:47Yeah, I think it's out now for sure.
36:50There you go.
36:51First grab.
36:51That's good.
36:53There it is.
36:55Look at that.
36:56It's good.
36:57We're learning.
36:58We're on to gold, so that's the main bit.
37:02Got a target here.
37:04I reckon this is going to be gold.
37:06There it is right there.
37:08Another bit of gold.
37:10Now we're cooking.
37:17Isn't that a good sound?
37:18Like music to my ears.
37:20It just sounds like a pretty decent size target.
37:24I feel the weight.
37:26There it is.
37:27Look at that.
37:27It just popped out.
37:29Straight away, when you pick it up, you feel the weight.
37:31Look at that.
37:33What a solid bit of gold.
37:35Yeah, have a look at that.
37:36Have a look at that chunk.
37:38Well, that's my biggest bit up here by far.
37:42You know, you like to think that, you know, we might find enough gold.
37:45We're not.
37:45We're not.
37:46We're not.
37:47We're not.
37:47We're not.
37:48We're not.
37:48We're not.
37:49We're not.
37:49We might find enough gold up here to, you know, help our season.
37:52But we just might find enough gold up here to change our lives.
38:07Well, I've got a bit of dirt over where I was.
38:10If I can get five or six little pieces out of this,
38:13then it'll be worth slushing or even dry blowing.
38:19Look, I've got gold here.
38:21There's one larger piece here.
38:23You wouldn't read about it.
38:23There is one big piece here.
38:25There's at least six or seven or eight pieces there and one larger piece.
38:29That tells me that this ground is very promising.
38:32Hey, Shane, do you want to come over and we'll do the weigh-in?
38:34No problems.
38:35This is very good.
38:41Okay, well, this is exciting.
38:43All right, guys.
38:44Thanks for being here.
38:45You know, I really appreciate you coming up.
38:47You know, Shane, you come out of retirement.
38:49And Amy, you've left your life and your family and your work and everything.
38:54So I really appreciate you both coming.
38:56I'm glad to be back.
38:57I'm glad to have the daggy old hat on.
39:00So you couldn't keep me away for long, could I?
39:02No.
39:03All right.
39:03Should we see how we went, guys?
39:05What do you reckon?
39:06Well, we need to get better than an ounce.
39:08Okay.
39:12That's one and a quarter ounces.
39:14So if you said gold was $3,000 an ounce.
39:16So that's just shy of four grand.
39:18That's not a bad effort.
39:19That's awesome.
39:20Yeah.
39:20Then I know that I've got this here to add to it, you know.
39:24This is a bit of a bonus.
39:25So what the detectives mix, we might be able to pick it up some other way.
39:29Well, Shane, I'm all in favor of us expanding the operation.
39:32We need to come up with a target.
39:34So what are we going to try and find?
39:36Well, between 15 and 20 ounces we need.
39:38To make it worth our while.
39:39Make it worthwhile our time.
39:40Well, yeah, the story, Kate, you've got to have a little bit of ambition.
39:43Well, how about 18 then?
39:44That's six each.
39:45You happy with that?
39:46I'm happy with that.
39:47We're in.
39:47I've got gold fever.
39:49I'm staying.
39:49All right.
39:50Awesome.
39:50Happy to hear that.
39:51Let's go.
39:55Come on, mate.
39:56Bring it in.
39:58See how we went.
39:59Yeah.
40:00What do you reckon?
40:00Not as heavy as last week, that's for sure.
40:02No, definitely not.
40:03But this is a whole lot more than we had yesterday.
40:05You're not wrong about that.
40:112.64.
40:132.64, mate.
40:14Considering yesterday, we had nothing in our pockets, literally.
40:19That's almost eight grand.
40:20Bringing their grand total to just over 14 ounces.
40:24Putting them well on track to meet their 25-ounce, $75,000 target.
40:30What a way to wrap things up, mate.
40:32Karatha paid off well and truly.
40:34Karatha.
40:35Both weeks.
40:36Karatha seriously has paid off.
40:38Big props to you.
40:39Mate, I've got something up my sleeve for the next trip.
40:43You've got something this time.
40:44I think we're going to head south.
40:46How far south?
40:47You'll just have to wait and see.
40:51Pack her up and leave tomorrow morning.
40:53It's going to be hard to leave this view, mate.
40:56It's beautiful.
40:57Adios, Karatha.
40:58Thank you very much.
40:59Thank you.
40:59It was fun.
41:06Hey, Heath.
41:07Got a copy, mate?
41:09Yeah, mate.
41:10I'm just getting a video message downloading from Nev, mate.
41:13Mate, you head back to the buggy.
41:14We might do a weigh-in while this is trying to download, hey?
41:25There you go.
41:27I'll chuck my two little piddles on there first.
41:31That's not too bad.
41:32About a quarter of an ounce, nearly.
41:33Too bad, mate.
41:35It's a little bit better.
41:36I'll throw this one underneath.
41:38Look at that.
41:404.13, say.
41:43That's not bad.
41:43Just over four ounces, mate.
41:45This week's gold has barely made a dent in their massive target.
41:50If they're going to reach their 1,000-ounce season goal,
41:53they'll need to step up their effort.
41:56Mate, we had dust storms.
41:57We had all sorts of things going on.
41:58We had a lot of the elements against us.
42:00Oh, mate.
42:00Hey, new terrain.
42:02That's a pretty good weigh-in, mate.
42:03There it is.
42:04Hang on.
42:05Is it a voicemail?
42:06No, it's a video message.
42:09Hey, boys.
42:10Hope you're going well up there.
42:12Look, guys, I've been just coming back from seeing the oncologist.
42:17They've done a biopsy, but at this point in time,
42:20there's just way too much spread of the cancer in the liver,
42:23which is the biggest problem.
42:26And I'm sorry to give you the news this way,
42:29but they're sort of saying eight, ten months
42:34is what's expected that I've got left.
42:39But listen, I'm fine.
42:42And I'll see you boys when you get back.
42:44And hopefully you've got a swag of gold to throw on the table
42:48and cheer this old face up.
42:51Love yous heaps.
42:52And just get out there and get some of that yellow for us.
42:57See ya.
43:00I knew it wasn't going to be good news.
43:02That's why he brought us up here.
43:03He knew something was wrong.
43:05That's why Denise was upset too.
43:07I knew there was something wrong.
43:12I knew there was something wrong.
43:42I knew there was something wrong.